From then on Jesus preached “Repent from your sins for the kingdom of God is near.” (Matthew 4:17)
It is so enticing to hear the words “repentance is not necessary”. Many believers have accepted a teaching the we do not need nor should we repent of our sins. This is not truth. First let’s look at what repentance means. It is a change of mind about something with action to follow, so therefore it is our responsibility to change our minds about our sins to the way God thinks about our sins. We are to put on the mind of Christ and do the things He did. If we only were to change our minds about sin but not our actions then our faith is dead because it has no works. So when we repent and change our minds it should follow with the subsequent action of turning from our sins. Repentance is a mandate!
There are many other reasons why God tells us to repent. One of them is that demons are attracted to sin and it opens the door of our lives to the enemy for him to attack us. When Satan has access to our lives through the open door of sin, he brings disease, torment and also molds our minds to believe lies so that we are not effective for the kingdom of God. If he can’t stop us from knowing Jesus, then he will try to diminish the effectiveness of our lives for Jesus. It is us who help the devil do this by living in sin.
Jesus is coming back for a church without spot or blemish. What has light to do with darkness? You can not drink the cup of demons and the cup of the Lord. Whatever sin might be dominating your life today, change your mind about it to think the way God thinks and then follow that thought with action and turn from your sin. The two avenues that bring us to repentance are Godly sorrow and His goodness, either one brings you to the same place and many times they work in tandem.
God’s mercy is saying to all today to come to Him for a change of heart so that we will desire to live the way He desires us to live which will glorify Him. He knows best and His love is amazing!
The Teaching Ministry of Michael Cannatello
